KU chemistry professor to be honored for encouraging women to enter field

LAWRENCE -- A University of Kansas professor of chemistry will be honored twice this year for her role in encouraging women to enter the chemistry field.

Professor Kristin Bowman-James will receive an award for excellence in June from Iota Sigma Pi, a professional society that encourages women in chemistry, and another this fall from the American Chemical Society.

The awards, in part, recognize Bowman-James' efforts as department chair to increase faculty diversity. During her tenure, she recruited four new women faculty members, which placed KU second in the nation among the top 50 research departments of chemistry in percentage of women faculty.

According to the Chemical and Engineering News, KU in 2000 and 2001 was one of only three surveyed U.S. universities where women accounted for more than 20 percent of the faculty. The department has six female faculty members, or 23 percent, second only to Rutgers University, which has a 26 percent female faculty ratio. However, this fall KU will add a seventh woman to a 26-member faculty; women then will constitute 27 percent of the faculty.

Bowman-James will accept the Iota Sigma Pi award and give a speech in Berkeley, Calif., in June.

The chemical society award will be presented during the Midwest American Chemical Society Meeting in Lawrence this fall as part of the 75th anniversary celebration of the society's Women Chemists Committee. The one-time award "recognizes individuals who significantly foster diversity in the chemical enterprises."

Notably, a study published by the American Institute of Physics in 2000 also noted that KU is one of only 17 universities nationwide with at least four female physics faculty members. The mean number of women faculty in doctoral physics departments across the nation in 2000 was 1.7.

For more information, see the Chemical and Engineering News 2001 Salary Survey.